I just want to know when preparing the system before doing the Master Image in Acronis Snap Deploy 3 what happens to the keys that are already in MS Office. They are copied over to new system if I don't run SYSPREP. I know this. BUT:

So I loaded all the programs and place the keys for office to get activated. Now I prepare SYSPREP and Image it.

When I deploy the Image. I know that I left the Windows Key blank so its going to ask me for that KEY, but what happens to MS Office ??

I guess I should just install the software and not activate anything ? Don't put any activation keys ? Basiclly load the program and do no activation unless I image the software first and after that I input the license key.

If you are referring to your software licenses then sysprep does really effect MS office, generally only the OS itself.

With Acronis Snap Deploy 3 you do not need to sysprep a machine, you can rename, replace sids, create accounts, etc before the image is loaded.

You have to input a key to install Office. If you are worried about legal issues, all of your machines can have the same License on the machine itself as long as you have individual licenses on file for each machine.

Here is how our hardware/software is imaged.

1. I created a master image for the 3 variants of machine I have. I sent Dell those images which they ship my machines preloaded. All 3000 Dell machines as well as the other 3000 non dell machines have the same license key on them for Office 2007, Office 2003, Windows XP, Windows Vista, Nero 7, Power dvd.
2. I have a file in my office with 6000 licenses but if you checked each machine during an invetory they all have the same keys.
3. When I reimage a machine my images all have the same 6 software keys.

I suggest:
1. Load your master image machine with the OS.
2. Update it
3. Install and activate all the software. When you image back Windows will probably ask for its key again. No biggie.
4. Get the image exactly how you want it with all the little tweaks one does. DO NOT JOIN A DOMAIN.
5. Boot to Snap Deploy or Acronis TI and create your image to your storage device.

When you restore the image you can:
1. If you run Snap Deploy3 Rename each machine and reset the SID and join the domain as part of the restore process.
2. If you are using TI then you can restore each machine then Download NewSID from MS and reset the sids on your machines then add them to your domain.
If you are not aware, each machine in your domain must have their own SID (Security Identifier).

Thanks so much... I was worried about the keys for MS Office and other programs. I was thinking the same thing, but I wasn't sure...

I do want to ask you. Why do you say not to join to a domain ??

I got 6 Desktops I am working with and I am about to image it and push the image to others. I did join the Desktop to a domain, I will click the SID box so Acronis can change the SID and I will use: Name{0}
Once they are ready I can just go in and rename them according to the name list I am using.

There is a option to Join to Domain while creating the Deployment Template.

If I am missing someting please let me know. Otherwise I can just remove the domain joining and just join them later...

When using snap deploy you can join a domain during the imaging process.

If you join your machines to a domain before you create the image, when you image back to the new machines and reset the SID you will have to remove the machines from the domain and readd them. It doubles the work. The machines should all have unique SID's before being added to the domain.

You can use the add to domain part of the of the image package, just remember to use the reset SID. I also suggest copying the default profile as well if you use a standardized desktop like we do.

You can install and activate all the software on the machine with out any issues. The only software I have found that wants reactivation is Windows itself.